When Mehnaz Tabassum left Bangladesh in 2015 to attend university in Canada, it was with a tearful goodbye and a promise to the siblings she left behind — that one day they’d join her.
Eight years later, she’s more than made good on that promise.
Her two younger siblings, Adib Rahman and Fabiha Tarannum followed her to Newfoundland to pursue their own studies within three years, along with family friend Mahmudul Islam Shourov — who they say has become like a brother to them.
Three siblings, a spouse and a family friend who’s become ‘like a brother’ share a home together in Ottawa. They say despite their differences, they always find ways to have fun together. (Submitted by Mehnaz Tabassum )
When Tabassum got a job in Ottawa in 2021, her adult siblings decided to follow her once again.
Now the family of 20-somethings own a house together in Canada’s capital with Tabassum’s husband Saif Ahmed.
They also run a non-profit and vacation together.
As they explain in a video for CBC Ottawa’s Creator Network — they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Our story is about five individuals with five different personalities who make a choice everyday to merge our lives,” Tabassum said.
Living together comes with its challenges, but it’s not all splitting chores and work duties. The siblings also love travelling together. (Submitted by Mehnaz Tabassum)
Choosing to stay together despite the challenges
Growing up, the siblings were close, being only a few years apart in age. But as adults, they found their personalities tended to clash.
“At some point you disagree on certain things [and it takes time] adjusting to each other’s [lifestyle],” Rahman said.
Still, Rahman says the family wouldn’t change a thing despite the apparent “chaos” of their living arrangements.
“There were moments [when deciding whether or not to move to Ottawa] where we thought we would all go our different directions … but the more we talked about it, the more we realized that our strength is in unity … in being together,” he said.
From left to right, Fabiha Tarannum, Mehnaz Tabassum and Adib Rahman as children in Bangladesh. (Submitted by Mehnaz Tabassum)
He adds that, to people on the outside looking in, their living situation is often viewed as “wholesome.”
For his parents, who still live back in Bangladesh, it’s a relief.
“Our parents are very happy we are all together, they really don’t have to worry about us being unsafe or going through [hardships] together by ourselves.”
Rahman says the concept of extended families or multigenerational families living under one roof isn’t uncommon in South Asian culture, but that’s not the only thing that contributed to their family’s decision.
The rising cost of living and the sense of isolation coming out of the pandemic were other considerations, Rahman says.
“It’s very hard right now out there with inflation … and it’s gotten more and more common where friends are getting a house together.”
For Tarannum, the youngest member of the family and last one to move to Canada, cost was certainly a factor. But knowing she had the support of her family cemented her decision to join them in a new city, despite having to leave a full-time job in Newfoundland with nothing lined up in Ottawa.
“It was a little bit challenging especially with the labour market in Ottawa … but I had their emotional support, as well, and I had a lot of guidance from my sister. So even though it was difficult, I did adjust,” she says.
The five roommates decided to share their story, and their advice on co-existing, for CBC Ottawa’s Creator Network. (Submitted by Mehnaz Tabassum )
For Shourov, the decision to follow his adopted family was an easy one. Though their parents were longtime friends, he’d actually never met the siblings until coming to Canada. But he says he quickly grew close with Tabassum and her siblings.
“I looked up to [Tabassum and Ahmed] for mentorship because obviously there was a cultural shock here that neither myself nor [Rahman] were really prepared for,” he recalls of the pair’s early years in Canada.
Tabassum especially, he says, gave “big sister energy” right away, bringing him into the fold and including him in family activities and helping him navigate the challenges of life as an international student.
Following her to Ottawa was a no-brainer. “Some bonds cut deeper than blood,” he said.
Though they’ve been through some ups and downs in the last eight years, the siblings say they wouldn’t trade living with each other for anything. (Submitted by Mehnaz Tabassum)
Fighting food insecurity as a family
Despite their success now, Mehnaz says she and her husband struggled when they first arrived as young international students.
“When me and [Ahmed] moved to Canada we were very reliant on food banks,” she recalls.
The siblings founded NL Eats, a non-profit organization that helps fight food insecurity. (Submitted by Mehnaz Tabassum)
When the pandemic hit in 2020 and food banks weren’t as easily accessible, she wanted to do something to help her community.
That’s how the siblings came up with the idea for NL Eats — a non-profit that distributes food hampers, organizes food drives and fights stigma on food insecurity through education.
When they moved to Ottawa in 2021, they decided to expand the non-profit to their new home and recently held an educational session on food insecurity, inflation and food production and sustainability. That’s on the side of full-time work in law, the public service, the non-profit sector and at Shopify.
The adult siblings say it’s been fun exploring their new city of Ottawa together. (Submitted by Mehnaz Tabassum )
Planning for the future
Next year, Shourov’s younger brother plans to follow in his footsteps, heading to Newfoundland for university, before ultimately joining the family in Ottawa.
For now, one roof is enough for them — but they say as their family continues to grow, and the rest of the siblings think about getting married, they plan on buying houses in the same neighbourhood.
Until then, they look forward to seeing where life takes them together.
“We’re all kind of growing up together and we’re learning to embrace new versions of ourselves,” Shourov said.
Rahman likens living together to an art that requires “compromise, understanding and a certain level of trust and openness.”
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
